North Berwick Priory, nunnery 60m NE of 4 Priory Gate

Heritage listing

Date Added 30/12/1936 Last Date Amended 01/04/2019 Type Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; claustral remains; monastery; nunnery; priory Local Authority East Lothian Planning Authority East Lothian Parish North Berwick NGR NT 54640 84999 Coordinates 354640, 684999 — The monument comprises the buried and upstanding remains of a medieval nunnery, founded between 1147 and 1153 and suppressed in 1597. Two upstanding structures survive: the first a substantial range of stone buildings surviving to wall-head height, which probably housed the refectory and kitchen; and the second a stone-built arched gateway that gave access into the nunnery from the west. The stone buildings were extended in the late 16th century, apparently when they were converted to form a large domestic house. Originally, these buildings probably formed a north range, standing on the north side of a cloister, with the priory church extending to the east. Buried foundations considered to represent the church were found when a tennis court was laid out east of the Abbey Home and further buried remains of the church are likely to survive here. An extensive cemetery that was probably close to the east end of the church is represented by burials revealed during archaeological excavations in 1995 and 1997. Remains of a tile kiln lie buried within the northern boundary of the monument. The monument lies about 600m WSW of the medieval core of North Berwick, 150m south of the railway station and some 500m inland from the coast. It occupies a ridge of higher ground, aligned WSW-ENE, which limits the availability of level ground in the vicinity. The scheduled area is irregular, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument s constructio

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.